The Society for Industrial Archeology General Tools Award for Distinguished Service to Industrial Archeology is the highest honor the SIA can bestow. The award recognizes individuals who have given sustained, distinguished service to the cause of industrial archeology and is presented at the SIA’s annual business meeting.
Criteria for selection are as follows:
- The recipient must have given noteworthy, beyond-the-call-of-duty service, over an extended period, to the cause of industrial archeology.
- The type of service for which the recipient is recognized is unspecified, but must be for other than academic publication.
- It is desirable but not required that the recipient be, or previously have been, a member of the SIA.
- The award may be made only to living individuals. Teams, groups, agencies, firms, or any other collective entities are not eligible.
The General Tools Award Committee invites and encourages SIA members to submit nominations for the General Tools Award. The nomination, which should not exceed three double spaced typed pages, should address the specific accomplishments that qualify the nominee for the award. Supplementary material (the candidate’s resume, for example) may be appended to the nomination. Nominations must also include the name, address, telephone number(s), and e-mail of the nominator. Any SIA member in good standing may make a nomination.
The General Tools Award was established in 1992 through the generosity of Gerald Weinstein [SIA], then chairman of the board of General Tools & Instruments Co. LLC.
High Road Capital Partners in February 2014 acquired General Tools & Instruments LLC and they are are happy for SIA to continue using the company’s name on the award, which will continue to be funded by the Abraham and Lillian Rosenberg Foundation.
The Rosenbergs founded General Hardware, the predecessor to General Tools. The award consists of a citation, a commissioned sculpture (“The Plumb Bob”), and a cash award.
Previous recipients: click on links below for more details about their award.
- Louise Trottier (2022)
- Vern Mesler (2021)
- Brian Shovers (2020)
- David Simmons (2019)
- Fred Quivik (2018)
- Patrick Harshbarger (2017)
- Duncan Hay (2016)
- Jet Lowe (2014)
- Bob Frame (2013)
- Jane Mork Gibson (2012)
- Richard Anderson (2011)
- Robert Gordon (2010)
- Carol Poh (2009)
- Chris Andreae (2008)
- Patrick Martin (2007)
- No award given in 2006
- Lance Metz (2005)
- Charlie Hyde (2004)
- Alex Barbour (2003)
- Charles Parrott (2002)
- Robert Merriam (2001)
- Eric DeLony (2000)
- Vance Packard (1999)
- Helena Wright (1998)
- Margot Gayle (1997)
- Patrick Malone (1996)
- Edward Rutsch (1995)
- Robert Vogel (1994)
- Emory Kemp (1993)
General Tools Award Plumb Bob
(Photograph by Peter Harper, General Tools & Instruments)